A building under construction which overlooks Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum in central Ha Noi has reportedly built more floors than it was given permission. — Photo vnexpress.net

HA NOI (VNS) — A building under construction which overlooks Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum in central Ha Noi has reportedly built more floors than it was given permission.

The conclusion was reached in a report by the Ha Noi People's Committee released on Wednesday under a request by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on September 24 to probe the construction of the 8B Le Truc Street building following public concerns over the extreme height of the building in the area.

Ha Noi authorities said that the building, which will contain a mall, offices and apartments, built an extra of five floors from its original blueprint, which had been given a construction permit by the city and the Government Office in 2013. The building was only allowed to be as tall as 53 metres, about 16 metres less than the actual height of the building so far.

The investor of the building, the Le Truc Garment Co. JSC., was also said to have illegally increased the total number of square footage by at least 6,000 sq metres, to about 36,000 sq metres.

Those violations were considered "serious, and massively affected the general view of the area".

Those violations had been repeatedly detected by inspectors during the course of construction, yet the handling of such violations lacked a strong punishment, the city authorities said.

Meanwhile, Government Office Head Nguyen Van Nen said in a press conference yesterday that it might ask the PM to establish a special inspection team to look further into the case. — VNS